


pretty boy

by malikstone



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, Mechanic!Liam, badboy!Liam, shy!zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-25
Updated: 2013-07-25
Packaged: 2017-12-21 08:47:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/898289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malikstone/pseuds/malikstone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Liam is a mechanic who smirks a little too much and Zayn is a shy boy who doesn't really mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	pretty boy

Zayn doesn't know anything about cars, but he's ninety percent sure that the loud clunking noise his car is making _isn't_  supposed to happen. It's been doing this for a month, and he thought if he just ignored it, it'd go away, but it's only gotten worse. Naturally.

Since it's his day off, he figures he might as well take it in now. It helps that Nialls dad has a shop, Bobby's Auto Paint and Body, and Niall works there. Although, he does only work at the desk, so he's not really sure how that's supposed to help at all.

When he pulls in he tidies his car a bit. If someone's going to look at it today, they don't need to know what a slob he is. He chucks everything in the dumpster on his way to the door and gets hit with the smell of oil and gas and smoke once he's inside. 

Niall laughs as soon as he looks up from the desk and sees him. Probably at the look on his face, Zayn guesses. 

"Hey, Ni," Zayn greets, resting his elbows on the counter. Hopefully there's no grease on it or something. He likes this jumper.

"Hey, Z, what's up?" Niall asks, abandoning the catalog he was flipping through.

"Um, I think somethings wrong with my car? But I could just be a bit paranoid, or something."

Niall laughs, shaking his head. "I'll go check if anyone's free." 

Zayn nods and Niall steps out from behind the counter, disappearing behind the door to the actual shop part of the building. The sound of screw drivers and banging as well as many other loud sounds stream through, cutting off when the door swings shut with a loud bang.

Zayn waits patiently, checking out the different air fresheners. A few minutes later, the door is being pulled open again, and he looks up to see Niall walking in with probably the hottest guy he's ever seen.

He's wearing big black boots, baggy jeans and a tight white wife beater. His muscles are huge, at least, compared to Zayn's they are, and he has tattoos up each of his arms. Zayns favorite is the thick black arrows. He sort of wants to bite them. 

He only realizes he's been staring when he gets up to his face (oh god, his  _eyes_  and those  _lips_ ) and sees that the man is smirking. 

He clears his throat, eyes darting away awkwardly as he pushes his glasses up. He's definitely blushing, but he hopes his skin is dark enough to hide it.

"This is Liam, he started here last week," Niall introduces with amusement in his voice. "He said he would check you out right now."

Zayn nods, smiling weakly and choosing to ignore Nialls poor choice of words. His eyes flick over for a second to see the man is still watching him with his smirk in tact.

"It's out front, then?" Liam asks, voice deep and perfect. Zayn nods, cheeks flushing just a bit more. "Let's go then." 

Liam walks right past, not waiting for him, but he follows anyway with a quick 'thanks, Ni!' thrown over his shoulder. Niall laughs and Zayn tries to keep his eyes above waist level.

"The black one," Zayn says gesturing to his shitty Pontiac Sunfire.

Liam pops the hood straight away, and Zayns mouth nearly goes as dry as the Sahara Desert watching his muscles flex and the way his veins stick out. He fiddles around a bit, not acknowledging Zayns existence for a moment.

"What'd you say was wrong with it?" he asks eventually.

"It uh, makes a clunking noise?" Zayn says, coming out more like a question than he intended. "Mostly when I turn though."

Liam nods, still looking around under the hood. "Everything looks fine under here," he says, slamming down the hood. "It's probably the wheel bearings. I'll have to take it for a drive to make sure, though." 

"Wheel bearings? Like - the circle things?" Zayn asks. Liam smirks again, nodding. "I think I might have spare ones in my trunk. My dad just puts shit in here and I don't have a clue what half of it is."

He pops the trunk with the remote on his keys, digs around a bit before finding what he was looking for. When he turns, Liams eyes flick up to his face, and  _oh god_ , he was looking at his arse. 

Zayn flushes, handing the parts over. "This them?" he asks quietly. 

Liam takes them, thumb brushing over his palm, and grins. "Those are the ones," he says. "You can leave your car here and come back in a couple hours. Niall will call you or something. If it's the wheel bearings it'll only be $100 since you already have them."

Zayn nods, handing over his keys. "Thanks," he says, getting another smirk and a nod in return.

He heads inside and talks to Niall for a bit until Harry comes to get him for dinner. He doesn't stop thinking about Liam's shoulders the whole time Harry rambles on about how cute Niall is, though.

\- x -

Niall calls him two hours later, telling him his car is finished. Harry drives him back to the shop, leaving him with a loud smacking kiss to his cheek. Zayn laughs, shoving him away and jogging inside.

Niall gives him his keys once he's payed. He's quite thankful that it was so cheap. He works as a waiter, he can't really afford much after he pays rent every month. 

He's just getting to the door when Niall's voice stops him. "Oh! He changed your oil, too," he says. "Just so you know."

"Right," Zayn says. "Thanks, Niall! I'll text you later!"

When he gets in his car the first thing he does is take off the stupid tag with his name on it attached to his key ring. It's in messy writing, and the string takes forever to get off, but finally he does it. After turning the ignition, he reaches to adjust his mirror. There's a sticky note on it in the same writing; a phone number with  _'- Liam x'_  under it. 

Zayn actually laughs, because this just  _doesn't_  happen to him. He's quiet and he likes comic books and gets maybe more tattoos than he should. He blushes and stutters and people just don't notice him.

He thinks about just throwing it out, but his mind helpfully tells him  _'you're not really going to do that, you fucking idiot, don't kid yourself'_  so he saves the number in his phone and drives home.

\- x -

It's been bothering him all day. He's opened the contact at least twenty times, only to close it a second later. He tries to distract himself, but all that ends up happening is him lying on the couch thinking about Liam while Misfits plays on the screen.

Finally, he hypes himself up enough to actually open a new text. He thinks for a bit about what he should say, before finally settling for  _Hi, it's Zayn. From the shop?_  and hitting send before he can chicken out. 

Once he's realized what he's done, he throws his phone to the other end of the couch and buries his face into the cushion like a twelve year old girl until it vibrates, nearly falling off onto the hardwood floor.

Taking a deep breath, he picks it up and opens the new message:

_I remember babe. What's up?_

He blushes, tummy going warm, and chews at his lip as he types back.

_Nothing, watching tv. You?_

_Going out with some mates soon. Come with me?_

Zayns heart hammers in his chest. He doesn't know what he was expecting texting Liam, but it certainly wasn't to have Liam just invite him out like they've been mates forever. He stares down at his phone for a few minutes until it vibrates again, making him jump.

_Come on pretty boy, have some fun. ;)_

Zayn laughs, shaking his head.

_Sure. When and where?_

_Funky Buddha @ 10_

Funky Buddha is not a club Zayn would usually go to. Actually, he doesn't really go to  _any_  clubs. But he figures he's already agreed, he can at least show up and duck out after an hour.

_Alright, see you then._

_Text me when you're there I'll meet you outside._

Zayn replies with a quick  _okay_  and checks the time. He has an hour to get ready and leave, which should be fine, if his hair decides to cooperate. 

He sighs, heading for his closet to find something to wear. He digs around a bit, coming up with mostly Harrys stupid band t-shirts, then finally his favorite black jeans and a black button up. He puts his hair up in a quiff then, since it was down earlier, and grabs his wallet, phone and keys, heading out to find a cab. 

He'd drive, but he's probably going to need at least one drink to get through this, and he absolutely refuses to drive if he's had  _anything_  to drink. He texts Liam when he's a block away, and when he steps out he has to wait for probably 20 cars before he can cross the street.

Liams leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. He's wearing boots again, but Doc Martens this time, with black jeans, a light button up and a dark wash jean jacket. He blushes when Liam quite obviously gives him a once over, smirking (hopefully) in a approval. 

"Hey, Pretty Boy," he says, voice low and gravelly. 

"Hi," is all Zayn says, blushing.

Liam grins, putting a hand low on his back to guide him into the club. The girls are the usual: mostly blonde hair with a fuck load of makeup and revealing dresses. The boys are preppy looking, mostly, and Zayn really has no idea what the hell Liam is doing here.

He leads him to a group of three boys, one dark skinned, one tanned, and one pretty pale. They all look like complete opposites, especially including Liam. 

"This is Maz, Andy and Josh," Liam says. "This is Zayn. Or Pretty Boy, if you prefer."

"Don't call me that," Zayn says immediately, smiling so he doesn't look like a total douchebag.

"Wasn't planning on it, mate," Andy says with a grin.

 "Well  _I'm_  not going to stop, so you'd better get used to it, Pretty Boy," Liam smirks.

Zayn flushes. He doesn't really mind if Liam's the one calling him that anyway.

\- x -

They get drinks, and everyone slides into easy conversation. Well, everyone but Zayn. He sort of keeps to himself, because that's just what he does, but Liam tries to include him as much as he can. Suddenly everyone's cheering at something behind him, though, and he turns to see - Louis? 

"Zayn!" Louis cheers, manhandling him into a rough a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Um," Zayn stutters, "just hanging out with Liam."

"Well, look at you!" Louis says, holding him by the shoulders at arms length, eyes raking down his body. "You look quite dapper tonight."

Zayn laughs, shoving at Louis. 

"Come dance with me," Liam interrupts. He doesn't give Zayn a chance to reply, already gripping him by the elbow and dragging him away.

Liam tugs him to the middle of the crowd, spinning him around and pulling him until his back hits Liams chest with a firm grip on his hips. Zayn goes with it, moving along with Liam to the beat of the shitty dubstep blasting out of the speakers. 

There's lips on his neck a minute later, and he shivers as they trail kisses to his ear, stubble scratching at his skin.

"He was flirting with you," Liam says.

"What? No," Zayn disagrees, shaking his head. "I've known Lou forever, he wouldn't."

"He  _was_ ," Liam argues. "I could  _see_  how he was looking at you."

"Liam -" 

"I didn't like it," he growls. "Right in front of me, too."

Liams hand is on his jaw then, turning his face, firm yet gentle, and then there's lips on his. He melts back into Liam, turning his body as much as he can with one of Liams hands still on his hip.

Liam coaxes his mouth open, even though he's very willing anyway, and licks into his mouth. His tongue and lips are soft yet dominant, and Zayn likes it. A lot.

"I wouldn't have cared," Zayn murmurs when they pull apart. "If he was flirting. I wouldn't have flirted back."

"Good," Liam says, pecking his lips one more time. "Jesus, you're so hot."

Zayn blushes, teeth sinking into his lip to hold back a grin. 

"I like it when you blush," Liam continues, smirking. "I wonder what else I could do to make you blush."

Zayn chuckles, turning around to place his hands on Liams chest and push him out of the crowd. "We better get out of here so you can find out, then."

\- x -

Zayn wakes up to teeth nibbling at his collar bone and rough, calloused hands on his thighs. He grunts, trying to squirm away, because it's too fucking early for this.

"Babe," a raspy voice says quietly, "it's two in the afternoon, wake up."

Zayn yawns, brain waking up more, and stretches. He blinks his eyes open to see Liam smiling down at him, hair sticking up in random directions due to his quiff being absolutely ruined last night.

"Morning, Pretty Boy," Liam says, kissing him quickly.

Zayn groans, wiggling down the bed more so he's at Liams chest. "Sleep more," he mumbles, hands running up Liams sides lazily.

"Fine," Liam laughs. "Half an hour, then I'm carrying you to the shower and turning it on ice cold."

"Sounds good," Zayn grins. He snuggles into Liams chest, sighing happily. Liam's like a furnace, it's wonderful. 

Liam laughs, chest rumbling while he kisses Zayns temple and pets at his hair. He's probably the softest bad boy ever, Zayn thinks before falling back asleep.


End file.
